Jobs Report Disaster: Unemployment Up to 9.2%

No one likes the looks of the Labor Department's June jobs report data: only 18,000 jobs were added despite expectations that anywhere from between 125,000 and 175,000 would be created. Reuters has a brief on the data, and notes that "Nonfarm payrolls rose only 18,000, the weakest reading since September, [and] well below economists' expectations for a 90,000 rise." President Obama is scheduled to address the jobs report at 10:35 am EST.

Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in June (+18,000), and the unemployment rate was a little unchanged at 9.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in most major private-sector industries changed little over the month. Government employment continued to trend down

Business Insider and The Wall Street Journalare live-blogging the news, and their reactions have run from "terrible" (WSJ) to "Gigantic jobs disaster" (BI). The Journal adds this stinging bit of analysis from its newswire:

"The June jobs report highlights just how impotent the Fed is in the current environment. QE3 is seemingly off the table, and policy makers have indicated no appetite for any other fresh stimulus. Essentially, the Fed has very little to offer anymore other than keeping rates very low, crossing its fingers, and hoping the seeds of stimulus it has planted will eventually take hold."